Luca Scassa

2011 WSBK Aragon Sunday Round Up - Momentum Shifts

Submitted by David Emmett on

There is a rather pleasing symmetry to Max Biaggi's victory in race two at Aragon: it meant that Biaggi's win rate in the first half of the season was 0%, but is 100% in the second half of the season. Of course, the second half of the 2011 World Superbike season is exactly one race old - the 13-round WSBK season has 26 races, and race two was the 14th race of the season - rather flattering his 100% win rate, but that won't diminish the psychological impact of the reigning champion's first win this season coming right in the middle of the season.

Biaggi can rightly regard this as a turning point; after a long season where nothing has gone his way, finally everything worked out for the Alitalia Aprilia rider. Most of all, Biaggi finally managed to ride a perfect race, free of the errors that have been so costly so far this season. Even in race 1, Biaggi managed to fritter away the lead, running wide in the final hairpin with just 5 laps left to go and gifting Marco Melandri the win, Biaggi finally succumbing to the pressure which Melandri had so exquisitely applied. But in race two, Biaggi turned the tables on the Yamaha man, tightening the thumbscrews on Melandri from the front, until eventually Melandri crumbled, losing the front - and then getting it back again with a most spectacular save - and running wide, rejoining 5 seconds behind the Aprilia and out of reach.

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2011 WSBK Phillip Island Race Notes

Submitted by David Emmett on

At Imola last year, shortly after Ducati had announced it would not be entering a factory team for the 2011 World Superbike series, hardcore Ducatisti and WSBK adepts hung a range of banners along the front straight, with such messages as "Senza SBK, Ducati Vale Meno" and "Ducati-SBK, the 46 reasons for pulling out." The withdrawal of the factory team was widely regarded as a terrible betrayal by Ducati, which had built its reputation and much of its brand on the success of its World Superbike team, creating legends such as Carl Fogarty, Giancarlo Falappa and Troy Bayliss along the way. 

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WSBK Rewind: 2010 Assen World Superbike Images

Submitted by David Emmett on

With MotoGP due to head to Assen in just over a week, here's a taster from the World Superbike round back in April. Friend of MotoMatters.com Michel Hulshof of Sports Photography used his expert local knowledge to grab some beautiful shots from the two WSBK races. Michel grew up just a stone's throw away from the iconic Dutch circuit, and it shows. You can see more of his work on his website, or you can follow him on Twitter, under the user name @ProNikon.


The Roman Emperor, on the Noale Rocketship

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Tamada And Scassa To Return To World Superbike Paddock

Submitted by David Emmett on

Moto2 is not the only class whose entries continue to grow. To the 23 riders already included in the provisional entry list for World Superbikes can be added two more: Makoto Tamada and Luca Scassa. Tamada has been signed by the Pro Ride Honda team run by Marco Nicotari, at least according to reportsy by the Italian website BikeRacing.it. Scassa, meanwhile, is to be part of a new Ducati effort going by the name of Team Supersonic, according to GPOne.com.

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2009 Phillip Island WSBK And WSS Qualifying - The Perils Of Superpole

Submitted by Kropotkin on

The brand new Superpole format adopted by World Superbikes for the 2009 season threw up a great many conundrums at Phillip Island on Saturday, as well as a few surprises. But perhaps most of all, it also threw up confirmation of what some had suspected, and many had hoped.

The format is relatively simple, and borrowed from Formula 1:

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2009 World Superbike Season Preview

Submitted by Kropotkin on

After MotoGP went four stroke, there was never any doubt about which was the premier class of motorcycle racing. Coinciding with the flight of the Japanese manufacturers from World Superbikes, the combination of Valentino Rossi's charisma and roaring, smoking, sliding 990cc bikes solidified the series' position as the pinnacle of two-wheeled racing which would brook no competition. But as the Japanese manufacturers started to slowly creep back into World Superbikes, and MotoGP switched to an 800cc capacity, the balance of power has started to shift. 

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